You are in: HOME / Winter / Culinary /

Fish & Meat

Thanks to its abundance of natural water resources Tirol has always had a great fish population. And as fish dishes are becoming more and more popular many restaurants and inns offer imaginative fish specialties. But fish were not always in demand.

Especially the rural population was quite skeptical of fish as food. This had nothing to do with the counts who had reserved the fishing rights for themselves - poaching had always been a popular sports in Tirol. Fish was simply considered a poor man's food: fishing involved a lot of time and the "prey" was not filling at all. In addition, fish was a classic Lenten dish and therefore identified with the meager weeks before Easter. Fish was only a popular food with aristocrats, clergymen and the bourgeoisie. Philippine Welser's famous cookbook from the 16th century contained recipes for fried fish, crayfish, jellied fish and pickled pike. Subsequent cookbooks already comprised over 40 fish recipes. The average Tirolean's attitude towards fish changed in the 19th/20th century with the beginning of tourism. The increasing demand for local fish dishes the food habits of the Tiroleans underwent a change.